As manufacturing techniques improve, electronic devices, such as micro-processors, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC's), and the like, use smaller and smaller voltage domains. Some electronic devices, for example, cannot tolerate a voltage input greater than 2.8V. However, as electronics devices get faster and smaller, the electronic devices may not be able to tolerate voltage inputs greater than 1.8V, 1.2V or even less.
Electronic devices can be damaged when the device receives an input with a voltage that exceeds the tolerance of the electronic device. However, there are instances where an electronic device with a smaller voltage domain may need to interface with another electronic device with a larger voltage domain or receive an input signal which may exceed the tolerance of the device. For example, an electronic device, which can tolerate voltages between 0V and +1.8V may need to receive a signal from another device which may have a much larger voltage range, for example, −7V to +15V.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for handling large signals in a smaller domain to avoid damaging electronic circuits of the electronic device with the smaller voltage domain.